ELLINGTON & EASTON
ELLINGTON : CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS
Church Post Code PE28 0AB
Open to visitors
The church of All Saints at Ellington was the final church visited on an Ash Wednesday 2025 churchcrawl; which had started in Chatteris and spending a large part of the morning in the Cambridgeshire Fens before picking up the A14 to the west of Huntingdon and heading towards the Northamptonshire border.
Ellington is a picturesque Huntingdonshire village which can be found just off the A14. Huntingdon is five miles or so away to the east with Thrapston 12 miles away to the west. Peterborough is 23 miles distant to the north. This is a pleasant are with some delightful villages, as well as Grafham Water, England’s third largest reservoir surrounded by beautiful countryside, three miles or so to the south.
There was a church and a priest mentioned here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086, listed in lands owned by Ramsey Abbey, but nothing remains of that original structure.
The church of All Saints stands proudly in the centre of the village, a real statement piece with its soaring broach spire; surrounded by houses but despite that it was quiet and peaceful in the church grounds with the first real sense of warmth on what had turned in to a beautiful spring day.
The church that we see today consists of west tower with spire, nave with north and south aisles and clerestories, north and south porches and chancel. The majority of the present structure was built in the 14th and 15th centuries but there are some features left over from a 13th century structure, which includes the chancel arch.
Please note that the sunlight was right behind the church and I struggled to shoot much from the north as a result. For that reason some of the exterior photographs are from a previous visit when conditions were more favourable.
There was a large amount of building around 1400 with the west tower and spire built along with the nave arcades and north aisle. The chancel was rebuilt in 1863 with the spire restored in 1889; with further restoration taking place in 1907 to 1908.
Taking a look at the church from the south; this is a very fine structure which reflects the wealth of the area at the time of building. This was built for the glory of God and with no doubt more than half an eye in buying favour with God and reducing their time in purgatory in those pre reformation catholic days.
The fine broach spire, with its two tiers of lucarne windows, rises up to an impressive 118 feet. A close look at the east wall of the tower shows the previous roofline before the clerestory was added. Moving around to the west the full perpendicular beauty of the tower here is seen at its best.
The clerestory is in the form of four three light windows; the chancel has steeply pitched tile roof. I saw little in the way of old graffiti here but ‘IB’ did leave his or her mark here back in 1741. As always the thought is cast as to who this might have been.
There are several very fine gargoyles and grotesques to be seen here. A human male figure looks out reflectively whilst stroking his beard; with close by a further human figure wearing a horned headdress, which has one horn missing! There are several grotesque beasts here, including one lion like figure with impressive mane. A female figure squats in a most inelegant manner; but it would have looked worse if it had been raining. Possibly not though as a local came up to me seeing my interest and said that this particular figure enraged Victorian sensibilities so much that the water outlet was blocked so that anyone looking on was not offended!
There are four bells in the ring here with the situation being the same as when Revd Owen’s study of the church bells of Huntingdonshire was published in 1899. Owen gave some details of the bells here with the first of the ring being cast in 1699 by Richard Chandler III of Drayton Parslow in Buckinghamshire.
The second and third are of great age, with each being attributed to London founders and each cast during the 15th century. The second has the Latin inscription ‘VOX AUGUSTINI SONET IN AVRE DEI’ which translates as ‘Let the voice of Augustine sound in the ear of God’. The third is inscribed ‘SANCTA MARGARITA ORA PRO NOBIS’ which translates as ‘St Margaret pray for us’.
The fourth of the ring was cast by Robert Taylor of St Neots in 1788 and is inscribed with the names Thos Ladds and Henry Hanger who were the church wardens of the day.
The visitor enters in through the north porch, which is ornately carved with empty image niche above; grotesques looking out from each side. The church was open to visitors and we were good to go.
Moving inside, it was bright and welcoming with the late afternoon sunlight streaming in through the south clerestory windows; with the absence of any stained glass here helping in that respect.
An initial look around showed north and south arcades of four bays; tall elegant arches which are supported on piers of four semi circular shafts with moulded capitals. Standing at the 13th century chancel arch and looking back to the west we see the outline of the previous roofline before the walls were raised as the clerestory was added.
A doorway to the north of the chancel arch is now unused but holds the stairs which led up to the rood loft; upon which would have been the rood itself, a carving of the crucifixion with Mary the mother of Jesus and John alongside the crucified Christ, which would have sat under the chancel arch. These were an integral part of our churches but were seen as idolatrous by the 16th century reformers; with those gathered worshiping the image rather than God himself. These were taken down and destroyed, along with other things such as statues and stained glass images.
The reformers view was along the Lines of Exodus Chapter 20 verse 4 which reads in the King James translation ‘Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth’.
Moving in to the restored chancel things are quite austere to be fair with a plain altar, which would have been furnished appropriately when a service was taking place. The east window is large and impressive; being of four lights with a trefoil design in the tracery. The walls are bare and it looks as if the Victorian restores might well have cleared out much of the previous history.
The church here is best known I daresay for the angel roofs in nave and aisle. These take the form of angels with outstretched wings running the length of the roofs, with smaller figures lower down. Again we can doubtless see the hands of the reformers at work here as well as the angels that we see today have restored wings; the reformers objecting to these ‘graven images’ and destroying the wings. One angel at least also has had its face destroyed.
Some the angels are depicted at prayer, others hold symbols of Christ’s crucifixion. Fascinating to attempt to look back to how things must have been before the reformers made their feelings known. Angels running the length of the roofs, leading up to a carving of the crucifixion under the chancel arch. Perhaps behind this we would have seen a doom painting on the wall above the chancel arch; which would have shown the scene of the day of judgement with Jesus sitting throned as judge, with the dead rising from their graves, with those judged righteous being led off to Heaven whilst those condemned being thrown naked in to hell by demons, with hell often being depicted in the form of a giant serpent’s south!
Moving back outside, the church grounds are large and well maintained; interesting to look around without there being anything of any great rarity or interest. It is worth noting though two ancient table tombs side by side to the south of the church. These have a Grade II Listing with the listing suggesting that they were erected in 1599 from side panels dating from the 14th century, with these having a repeated quatrefoil pattern and top panels dating from the 13th century.
Also having A Grade II listing is a table tomb to Thomas Ladds, whose name is inscribed on the fourth bell in the ring; him being church warden in 1788 at the time of casting. He died in 1802 with his details being flanked by two urns each of which has an upturned flame, this symbolising eternal life.
EASTON : CHURCH OF ST PETER
Church Post Code PE28 0TU
Open to visitors I believe on Sundays.
It was late July 2025, a Sunday free from my own church commitments and a churchcrawl which started off in Northamptonshire; with a full cooked breakfast at Stanwick prior to a café church service and a service attended at Denford! We had dodged the showers and we had pushed our luck rather by the time we arrived at the church of St Peter at Easton, which turned out to be the last church of the day photographed as the weather finally won out!
This was a return visit, with David and I visiting on a glorious May evening back in 2014. Memories are a little vague but I think that we attended an evening prayer service here. Either that or we arrived just a service was finishing. What I do recall with certainly it a warm friendly welcome by those present and the setting which was idyllic.
The sun was starting to set and the light quality was exceptional. We wandered off to the west and shot the church spire rising up above some delightful thatched cottages. Two thatched pheasants faced each other on the roof of one; with a little further down three thatched cats stood in line, facing west with tails raised in greeting. A brook runs off sleepily to the north. Of all of the churches covered by my two sites looking at churches which surround Peterborough this is probably my favourite setting. It was always the intention to visit again one day and this happened just over 11 years later. No point in hurrying!
Easton is a small village in Cambridgeshire, but part of Huntingdonshire county council, which recorded a population of 153 at the time of the census in 2021. It is situated two miles to the west of Ellington and set back from the A14 which connects Thrapston to Huntingdon, with the latter some six miles away to the east. Grafham Water borders the parish to the south. Peterborough is a distant 25 miles or so to the north. The church of St Peter stands central in this most pleasant of villages.
The church that we see today consists of west tower with spire, nave with south aisle and clerestory, north porch and chancel.
There was a church listed here at the time of the Domesday Survey in 1086. The present structure mainly dates from the early 14th century but the north wall and some fragments of carved stone set in to an interior wall date back to the 12th century.
There was much remodelling of the church around 1300 when the south aisle with arcade, the chancel arch and chancel were added or rebuilt. The tower and spire were added after that. During the 15th century the east end of the chancel was rebuilt with the north porch clerestory and the rood stairs being added during the early 16th century.
There has been much restoration here over the years. The nave roof was replaced in 1630 and the chancel was restored in 1871; with the rest of the church being restored between 1876 and 1879. Further restoration followed in the early 1900’s with the spire restored in 1908. In recent times the tower was restored.
This is not the easiest of churches to photograph due to the high number of trees, with the south being particularly tight for space. Looking at the church from the north though, with a nearly unobstructed view, we see the church with a finely proportioned west tower with octagonal broach spire rising up with three tiers of gabled lucarne windows. A frieze running across the top of the tower consists of a repeated quatrefoil roundel, which looks to have been restored in the recent restoration of the tower.
The tower has a stair turret to the south east and is very heavily buttressed; and is best viewed from the south west. The north porch appears to have been heightened at some point; the clerestory is battlemented with clerestory windows just to the south.
A single gargoyle in the form of a beast with tightly furled wings looks out from the south; appearing to be on the verge of taking flight! The chancel is slender and heavily buttressed with three light east window.
When Revd Owen’s study of the church bells in Huntingdonshire was published in 1899 there were four bells in the ring here with details as follows. The first of the ring was from Peterborough founder Henry Penn and was inscribed ‘Henry Penn Made Me 1718’.
The second is one of twe ancient bells from Newcombe of Leicester, dating to around 1530. This one has the inscription ‘Sancta Marea’. The third is from Taylor of St Neots; cast in 1821 and noting very formally Mr Whitehead who was the church warden of the day. The fourth is the second from Newcombe of Leicester, with this one dating from 1560.
The situation is different today with just the two bells from Newcombe remaining. There would have been bells here prior to the 16th century bells cast by Newcombe and an interesting BBC report from 2010 tells of a hole being found under the tower during some restoration work. This turned out to be a bell pit, thought to date from the 14th century, with at least one very ancient bell being cast at the church itself. Some founders were itinerant and cast their bells on site so to speak.
The visitor enters in through the north porch, through the 14th century inner doorway. I hadn’t checked as to whether the church was liable to be open. I was in luck, the church was open to visitors and we were good to go.
Moving inside, it was a little brighter than I had expected given how dull it was outside; the lack of stained glass at this church helping in that respect. The south arcade, which dates to around 1300, is of four bays with moulded capitals supported by substantial circular piers. A blue carpet runs throughout the nave and in to the chancel, but not as far as the high altar. Looking to the east, the outline of a previous roofline can be seen against the west wall
Nave is separated from chancel by a 15th century screen, which in pre reformation times would have held an upper stage, the rood loft, which would have held the rood itself, a carving of the crucifixion with Mary the mother of Jesus and John alongside the cross. To the south of the chancel arch, at ground level, is a doorway which contains the stairs which leads up to what would have been the upper storey with this doorway leading out on to the rood loft.
Moving in to the chancel the east window is of three lights with light green tints on the panes. The altar is plain and simple with a single cross and two vases of flowers. The sedilia, which was the seating for the priests during the Mass in pre reformation days, takes the form of, a low window sill, in a two light window set in to the south wall. There is no reredos but golden curtains can be found at the north and south corners of the chancel; the latter of which might have hidden the piscina, used for washing the Holy vessels used in the Mass, which would have been located immediately to the east of the sedilia.
The same golden curtain also covers the lower stages of the east window; casting out golden shadows through the chancel early on a sunlit morning.
As mentioned earlier, carved stonework dating back to the 12th century is set in to the north wall; with what might be a sound hole to improve acoustics alongside. In the south aisle the Union Jack flies and a medieval piscina indicates that the Mass would have been given from here back in the day. At the west end of the south aisle the font is ancient, dating back to the 13th century and therefore being older than much of the structure that stands around it.
The grounds here are of interest but there is nothing of any great rarity or interest and nothing has its own Grade II Listing. However, a gravestone to one Jane Blunkit who died in 1810 at the age of 75 years caught my eye due to the epitaph, which reads ‘My children dear your tears refrain and do not for me weep. For I am now releas’d from pain and with your kindred sleep. Hopeing (sic) we shall meet again at our kind Saviours feet’.
It was good to be able to see this church again. I am not sure if the church here is open to visitors during the week (I visited briefly on a weekday a few weeks previously and it was closed). This is a lovely structure in a delightful village and is well worth taking a look at if you get the chance
To complete this look at Easton church, a few photographs from May 2014, when the lighting was much better.
